|
Romania - May 1—May 15, 2001 Constanta  Constanta may have been the city Charles enjoyed the most and I enjoyed the least. Did I suffer a curse when I accidentally knocked over a gypsy's bag of barley en route to Gara de Nord? I don't know, but Constanta saw me at my most miserable. Charles was nearly pick-pocketed there, women wouldn't give me the time of day or night, and there was just something tainted about the atmosphere.
On a positive note, we met some cool people, sat in the front row of an opera recital, and I had a long conversation with a young army officer (the details of which I can't recall since I was very drunk at the time—but it was really great, I assure you). Also, to be completely fair, Constanta is at its best during the summer months, when bathing beauties converge on its shores. We were there in May, when things are much quieter. Click here for the sounds of bells ringing in Constanta. Click here for audio of a young opera singer's interpretation of my favorite aria. Nice Sweet Girls In two different cities—Bucuresti and Constanta—cabbies offered us "nice sweet girls." Some street denizens in Constanta also offered us "Lolitas." We did not partake. We figured that it was more interesting to find our own women—preferably ones old enough to discuss Ceasescu as adeptly as they could the merits of Alice DeeJay. I suspect our approach was also considerably cheaper. Dog Days  Each of the three cities we visited were teeming with feral dogs. Most sane people realize that these mutts need to be destroyed. Charles was attacked by one in a Bucuresti park; a French guy staying at our hostel had a bloody cut from an encounter (he got to go to a real Romanian hospital!). Many people in Bucuresti have either been attacked or know somebody who was.
Most of the dogs I ran into were pretty friendly and quite willing to have us join their packs. One canine trotted happily alongside Charles and I for several blocks in Bucuresti (it was very dismayed when we disappeared through the Villa Helga's doors—I suspect we stranded it behind enemy lines). While stumbling home one night in Constanta, I was approached by a very aggressive dog. I decided to just lie down in the middle of the street to see what it would do. It seemed confused by my behavior and it left me alone. I have found this is also a good way to amuse Russian mafiosi.  Incidentally, I'm really more of a cat person. While cats seem underrepresented in Romania, I did spot this cutie peering out of a window in Constanta.Click here for the sounds of Romanian dogs conversing. Romanian Pop Music Break out your peer-to-peer file swapping programs to hear the following groups—I have yet to see this music in the U.S. "Probably every Romanian kid has a B.U.G. Mafia cassette," a Club Extasy employee informed me, referring to Romania's leading rap group. Their lyrics tackle many of the same issues addressed by their American counterparts—a lack of fondness for police officers, for example. One Brasov girl I instant messaged told me that she was very offended by B.U.G. Mafia's sexist lyrics. 
Many Romanian acts feature female vocalists backed by male rappers. N + D and Hi-Q are good examples (Hi-Q also has their own TV show, where they feature other bands as well). Hi-Q's "Cat te iubeam" is a wonderful piece of production, as is "Mi-e tare dor," but a lot of Romanians hate Hi-Q.
3rei Sud Est has been around a while, and seem to fulfill a sort of N-Sync niche, though their "Te voie pierde" sounds a little more substantive. Animal-X's "Pentru ea" was very popular during our stay. Chic's (not the disco legends) "Ia ma in brati" was a pretty slinky little number from around January of 2001. Similar in its adorable sluttiness is N + D's "Esti sexy," also from late 2000 early 2001. In electronic music, Romania has their own house and trance producers. Pop crossovers K-Pital are garnished by electro/house production ("Vibratii" is a particularly good track). Voltaj's "Iarna" is a rather atmospheric electronic piece accompanied by male vocals. I first heard it in January 2001, but it was still frequently played in Romania during our visit in May. Suie Paparude's "Gratie" is a beautiful song; melancholic, trancy chords accompanied by crunching breaks. It may be the most Western sounding thing I've heard from Romania, and was charting high on the Romanian language charts in May 2001. But most of the music you will hear will be English and American stuff. Destiny's Child, Crazy Town, OutKast, and, erm, Snow were all wafting from speakers everywhere we went. So was a variety of Eurotrash and trance. Even McDonald's was rocked by jackhammer beats, a far cry from the lobotomizing VH-1 tunes scoring the fast food places here in the states. As an aside, one of the nicest things about Napster was the fact that I met a ton of Romanians via the instant messenger. I met two of these gentlemen in person during my visit in Romania (Hi Razvan!; Hi Sorin!), and their guidance made our trip much richer. Another way that Napster helped bring the world together, and another reason why I'll miss it. Language When people ask me, "What language do they speak in Romania?" I always feel bad answering, "Romanian." I don't try to be a smartass. Romanian is not a Slavic tongue; it's Latinate (Romania . . . Rome . . . you get it). I have read that it most closely resembles Italian.  I got by on about ten phrases, and was able to form simple questions to break the ice. However, most Romanians we encountered spoke decent English, and while they frequently apologized for their poor language skills they certainly did better in my language than I did in theirs. English communication on both sides usually consisted of some smooth sailing, followed by a brief flurry of pantomime, followed by more smooth sailing.
While seeking a club in Bucuresti I began asking a Romanian, "Unde esti—?" ("Where is—?") and was cut off by a disgusted, "Speak English please!" Some Romanians understood me OK (one proclaimed my reading aloud of a Romanian horoscope to be "good"), but others seemed unable to understand me at all. The subtleties of pronunciation are difficult to master. Not wanting to pack a library of Romanian language books I would not be able to reference "in the field" anyway, I only carried a small phrase book. This book proved of great interest to the Romanians we met. The Romanian Sense of Humor Aside from the helpless laughter that greeted us whenever we attempted to speak their language, Charles and I saw little signs of humor amongst the Romanians we met. Slapstick humor didn't go over very well either, and absurd lines of questioning were greeted with little enthusiasm. I would like to think that this was largely due to the language barrier. But then I remembered that my attempts at humor don't work well in America, either.
|
